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36 Hours in Aarhus, Denmark

This small and scholarly college town is brimming with discoveries, from astounding artwork to cozy restaurants and excellent craft beer.Related Article

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A view of Aarhus.
Credit
Mads Frederik Christensen for The New York Times

Small and scholarly, Aarhus has an easygoing, college-town atmosphere – about one in seven residents is a university student. But the range of top-notch cultural institutions rivals that of many larger cities. A 2017 European Capital of Culture, Denmark’s second-largest city is sprouting new architectural landmarks and repurposed cultural complexes like wildflowers. An ongoing renovation of the old harbor is producing new spaces for design, drinking and dining. And the vibrant, walkable city center brims with discoveries high and low, from astounding rooftop artwork to cozy holes-in-the-wall — all less than three hours by train from Copenhagen.

36 Hours in Aarhus, Denmark

Explore the map and find things to do in Aarhus.

Friday

1) 3:30 P.M. Art Immersion

Acquaint yourself with the city atop ARoS, Aarhus’s 10-story art museum where a spectacular circular walking path encased in rainbow-hued glass crowns the roof. This eminently Instagrammable installation, “Your Rainbow Panorama,” by Olafur Eliasson, lets viewers literally see the city through art in 360 degrees. Continue a tour through the exhibitions below, including the visceral, politically charged works of “No Man Is an Island — The Satanic Verses” (through Jan. 7, 2018). Don’t miss the evolving basement exhibition space, “The 9 Spaces,” a shadowy gallery housing immersive works from contemporary artists, like a mesmerizing red-light installation by James Turrell, and a series of audiovisual works in a living room setting by the Swiss artist Pipilotti Rist. Admission, 130 Danish kroner, or about $21.

2) 6:30 P.M. Nordic Plates

Nordic cuisine is built on what’s local and seasonal, an ethos that inspires every meal at Restaurant Haervaerk. In a warm dining room with rustic details — cutlery in leather pouches, hanging meats on display — the kitchen serves a single set menu that changes nightly based on what’s available from small area suppliers. A recent meal began with superb snacks — salsify draped with lardo, prosciutto-wrapped grissini, mushroom-smothered Belgian waffles — paired with a hazy apple cider from Vinhuset Kvist & Vitus, an eco-winery south of Aarhus. Five creative courses followed, from dry-baked and pickled beets with horse bacon and dukkah to a bowl of Jerusalem-artichoke ice cream topped with artichoke crisps and caviar. Dinner, 450 kroner.

3) 10 P.M. Craft Beer Crawl

Denmark’s game-changing craft beer scene is not confined to the capital. For proof, sidle up to the rough wooden bar of HantWerk, a drinking and dining destination that opened in February in a former engineering hall beside the old harbor. The beer menu is populated by hard-to-find brews from the Jutland peninsula, like Blondines Kusine, a citrusy Belgian blond ale from the on-site microbrewery, Humleland. Later, settle into a cozy corner at Mig & Olsnedkeren, a bi-level brewpub that opened last year with mismatched furnishings and 20 taps pouring many of their own beers and collaborations, like Olsnedkeren’s Jyske Dollars, a rich West Coast-style I.P.A.

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Great Coffee focuses on the craft of coffee brewing.
Credit
Mads Frederik Christensen for The New York Times

Saturday

4) 10 A.M. Coffee Talk

In a brick building on a pretty cobblestone courtyard, Great Coffee lives up to its name. Run by the award-winning barista Soren Stiller Markussen, this warehouselike coffee shop focuses on the craft of coffee brewing, with a micro-roastery, brew-ratio charts on the wall, a menu of espresso options and five different filter methods. Feeling overwhelmed? Then slip inside RS28, a laid-back coffee shop where the reception is friendly, the lattes are frothy, and the knowledgeable baristas are happy to chat about the flavors of the daily brew.

5) 11 A.M. Library of the Future

Anyone who doubts the value of a physical library in the digital age ought to visit Dokk1, the new home of the city’s public library. Situated on the waterfront, this neo-futuristic heptagonal structure with walls of glass was designed by the Danish architecture firm Schmidt Hammer Lassen. Take a tour of the building — there are also spaces for cultural events, exhibitions, performances, offices, lounges and dining — before checking out the outdoor art installations, exploring the series of playgrounds on the terrace, perusing media in the library and admiring the views across the water and once-industrial harbor.

Dokk1, situated on the waterfront, is the new home of the city’s public library. Credit Mads Frederik Christensen for The New York Times

6) 12:30 P.M. Smorrebrod Supreme

When Wassim Hallal, one of the city’s top Michelin-starred chefs, turned his attention to smorrebrod, the classic Danish open-faced sandwich, Aarhusians took notice. In a prime riverside location, F-Hoj is an upscale deli serving Mr. Hallal’s refined twists on traditional smorrebrod alongside tempting cakes and chocolate confections. At lunch, snag a table in the small seating nook to try the half-dozen varieties on Danish rye, which recently included chicken salad with apples in a creamy mustard sauce topped with strips of fried chicken skin (65 kroner), and the sublime “burning love” smorrebrod with mashed potatoes, crisp bacon bits, caramelized onions and baby greens (65 kroner).

7) 2 P.M. Danish Designs

Danish design has dictated furniture trends for decades, from midcentury functionalists like Wegner and Jacobsen to the modern-day trendsetters Muuto and Hay. A visit to the Copenhagen-based furniture house Paustian, in a rambling 19th-century former railway station near the waterfront, will reveal an aspirational cross-section of Danish and international design pieces, with classics alongside soon-to-be-classics. Shop for a masterpiece, like Poul Henningsen’s artichoke lamp, or pick up packable collectibles, like a dollhouse-size Eames chair or Kay Bojesen’s hanging wooden monkey, a mainstay in Danish children’s rooms for over half a century.

8) 4:30 P.M. Culture Center

Living up to its capital-of-culture title, Aarhus has repurposed an old freight yard as Godsbanen, a center for cultural production where artists, writers, performers and creative types of every stripe are invited to use the studios, galleries, stages and workshops. Come for the packed calendar of events: street fairs, food and beer festivals, artisan and flea markets, and music performances ranging from jazz to glitter raves. On the rare occasion that nothing’s scheduled, stroll around the neighboring Institut for (X), a colorful shantytown of former railroad buildings and makeshift shipping containers housing dozens of studios and workshops for alternative and entrepreneurial projects — a graffiti supply shop, woodworking studios, a reggae grill — as well as playgrounds, a plant market, pop-up shops and a vegetarian cafe.

Restaurant Haervaerk serves local and seasonal Nordic cuisine. Credit Mads Frederik Christensen for The New York Times

9) 8 P.M. Hygge Heaven

Embrace hygge, the Danish concept of convivial coziness, over a meal at Vesterlauget Madbodega, a homey restaurant with flea-market furnishings and candles atop wooden tables meant for sharing. During the day, the space serves hearty English breakfasts and smorrebrod lunches, but in the evening, crowds come for dinner when the menu consists of one main course — perhaps porchetta with barley, peas and fennel, or Danish farm chicken with lentils, herbs and parsnips (85 kroner) – and one dessert, like a rhubarb-mascarpone-hazelnut tart (45 kroner), which change daily. Add to that an excellent selection of local beers and spirits, and your hyggelig evening is complete.

10) 11 P.M. Creative Cups

Curious about cocktails served in miniature bathtubs? Then reserve a table at Gedulgt, a lively speakeasy-inspired cocktail bar that opened in January with a discreet backyard entrance and a menu of creative libations. Inspired by the movie “American Beauty,” the frothy bathtub cocktail of tea-infused gin, double cream, lime, lemon, egg white and acacia honey is a showstopper strewn with crimson rose petals (130 kroner). For a more demure drink, try the Can Can (Pimm’s, sloe gin, lime and ginger beer; 85 kroner) served with mint in a tin can.

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Aarhus has repurposed an old freight yard as Godsbanen, a center for cultural production.
Credit
Mads Frederik Christensen for The New York Times

Sunday

11) 10 A.M. An Icy Landmark

On a morning stroll, explore the unusual residential complex Isbjerget (the Iceberg), one of the city’s most distinctive architectural landmarks. This impressive waterside structure, whose white pointed rooftops rise dramatically like jagged peaks, is a pillar of the new Aarhus East city district being constructed in the northern harbor area.

12) Noon. Lunch Choices

Most visit La Cabra Coffee for the superb light roast. But an even better reason is the food. Inside this popular Latin Quarter cafe, a menu board lists a half-dozen straightforward options: grilled sandwiches, an excellent avocado toast and the apogee of bread and cheese. Choose the latter for unfussed-with perfection: thick hunks of house-made rye sourdough with crumbly slices of Arla Unika’s Gammel Knas, a 24-month aged cow’s-milk cheese (30 kroner). Those who value variety might instead prefer Aarhus Street Food, a cavernous food hall that opened in 2016 with over 30 stalls serving specialties ranging from pulled-duck burgers and bánh mì sandwiches to Ugandan rolled-egg wraps.

13) 1:30 P.M. History Lesson

When the Moesgaard Museum moved into a new turf-covered structure designed by Henning Larsen Architects in 2014, the building itself became as much of an attraction as the exhibits inside. About a half-hour by bus (No. 18) from central Aarhus, the museum chronicles Denmark’s prehistory with collections of Viking-era rune-stones, archaeological artifacts used in sacrificial rituals, and a 2,300-year-old naturally mummified bog body (admission, 140 kroner). Outside, the sloping, grass-covered rooftop invites strolling, lounging, picnicking and, in winter, sledding, surrounded by the bucolic Danish countryside.

Lodging

Rent a room via Airbnb to stay in the city’s charming residential areas, like Frederiksbjerg, an up-and-coming neighborhood packed with great bars and restaurants south of the central train station.

For the comforts of a hotel, check in to one of the 39 rooms and suites at Villa Provence, a boutique property decorated in romantic Provençal style with a leafy cobblestone courtyard (Fredens Torv 12; 45-86-18-24-00; villaprovence.dk; from 1,195 Danish kroner). Or try the new Wakeup Aarhus, a budget property that opened in May with 315 minimalist rooms near the train station (M. P. Bruuns Gade 27; 45-44-80-00-00; wakeupcopenhagen.com; from 400 Danish kroner).